Life in the Colony had not prepared me for what I saw on the other side of the dunes. I had some vague notion of what buildings had looked like before the war—tall skyscrapers, all metal and glass, hemmed in close on blocks surrounded by streets paved with asphalt. Though the Colony had no streets, there were white sidewalks between the white buildings, and almost colorless sand filled any empty spaces. I had assumed whatever lay beyond the Colony would be fashioned in much the same way. Whoever designed our world had to draw inspiration from somewhere, right?
Well, whatever might have inspired those who created the Colony was long gone. In its place was rubble strewn amid crumbling walls and littered streets. The pavement had deteriorated into chunks of gray, scattered across what must h
